BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR KEY WORDS

anterograde amnesia

inability to form & retain new memories after it just happened [ due to a specific injury ]

retrograde amnesia

unable to recall memories of their experiences / events / information that has already happened before. [can’t remember something from their past due to an injury which caused this problem.]

declarative memory

facts & events that you can state/declare to recall.

• remembering and stating your personal narrative of life. 

implicit memories [non-declarative] 

things like skills, habits, conditioned responses such as riding a bike or texting. 

Korsakoff’s syndrome

A neurological disorder of the central nervous system which leads to amnesia, specifically impairing the declarative memories; caused by nutritional deficiency of Vitamin B.

declarative memories are

stored & widely distributed across cortical regions of the brain {the neocortex} not just in the medial temporal lobe.

declarative memory

the form and organization depends on medial temporal lobe structures [hippocampus etc]. MTL only acts as a hub to connect information from different parts of the brain [for encoding & consolidation]. 

medial temporal lobe [MTL]

important for forming and combining declarative memories.

• works as a hub to bring together information from different brain areas. damage can cause anterograde amnesia.

• includes hippocampus, entorhinal corte, perirhinal cortex, and parahippocampal cortex.

frontal lobe

controls planning, decision making, problem solving, & impulse control.

• involved in movement (motor cortex) & speech production (brocas area)

• plays a big role in personality, emotions, & social behavior

mammillary bodies

small round structures on the underside of the brain [part of the hypothalamus]

• important for memory processing & recall, works with the hippocampus & thalamus in the limbic system.

• damage linked to memory disorders [korsakoff syndrome] 

episodic memory 

memory of personal experiences - events tied to a specific time and place like remembering your 10th bday. “Episodes of your life”

procedural [motor] memory

a type of non-declarative long term memory; capable of remembering how to perform a task without conscious thought. [typing / riding a bike]

electrodes

tools that record brain activity (like EEG) or stimulate neurons with small electrical signals. (helping neurons fire)

white matter 

made of myelinated axons. Speeds up communication between brain regions. 

• brains “highways” 

Gray matter

made of cell bodies, dendrites, synapses. Handles thinking, memory, decisions.

• Brains “processing centers”

Gliosis

Brains healing responses to injury. Glial cells activate, clean up, and may form a glial scar.

multiple traced theory (MTT)

every time we recall a memory, the brain creates a new trace (a new version of that memory) in the hippocampus & cortex. [old memory stored in the hippocampus & cortex).

• recalling strengthens memory but can also change it slightly.

• remembering = re-storing, not just replaying.

Semantic memory

memory of facts and knowledge. Not tied to a specific time. [ex.knowing 2 + 2 = 4 or knowing Paris is the capital of France]. “General Knowledge”

The structures of the medial temporal lobe [MTL]

important for declarative memory [episodic + semantic]

Hippocampus [MTL]

forms new long-term declarative memories [episodic + semantic]. Critical for linking experiences into memory!

• main site of neuroplasticity.

• functions : learning new information, encoding & consolidating memories, spatial memory place cells - ‘GPS’ of the brain.

Entorhinal Cortex [MTL]

movies information in and out, acting as the gateway between the hippocampus and cortex

• like a train station hub connection memory routes.  

Perirhinal Cortex

handles object recognition & familiarity. [“Have I seen this before?”].

• like your brains object ID scanner.

Parahippocampal Cortex

supports place, context, and scene memory.

• like your GPS for memory, remembering where things happened.

Amygdala

is part of the limbic system [emotion & motivation network, helps us feel emotions & drives us to act on them]

• detects threats & triggers the fear response

• helps attach emotional meaning to memories

hippocampus is part of larger set of structures to the…

limbic system

limbic system is responsible for

emotion, memory , drive / motivation

dentate gyrus [subregion of the hippocampus]

can generate new neurons [neurogenesis] helping pattern, separate between 2 similar experiences 

• the “entry” [takes in new information] 

CA Regions [subregion to the hippocampus]

different roles in memory encoding & retrieval

• the “processors” [work with memory signals]

subiculum [part of the hippocampus]

main output, sends information out of the hippocampus

• the “exit”, sending info to other brain areas 

encoding

process of taking in new information & turning it onto a memory trace [‘saving’ the experience in your brain]

consolidation

process of stabilizing & strengthening that memory, becoming long-term / harder to forget

spatial navigation 

brains GPS, helps you know where your are & how to get places 

place cells

neurons that fire when you are in a specific location.

• discovered by John O’keefe in 1971

grid cells

neurons in the entorhinal cortex that fire in a hexagonal grid pattern as you move through space. 

• create an internal coordinate system, helping measure distance, track position, & support spatial memory [work with hippocampal place cells] 

neuroplasticity

brains ability to change & adapt

hippocampus changes with…

new experiences, neurogenesis, size differences

the cerebral cortex

the outermost layer of the brain [ the wrinkled, folded “gray matter” usually seen in pictures]

• responsible for higher brain functions: perception, thought, memory, language, decision making, voluntary movement etc

• contains billions of neurons

somatosensory cortex

processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position

auditory cortex

found in the temporal lobe; processes sound

prefrontal cortex : big 3

planning, decision making, personality 

preliminary study

a small practice study done before the main research. it checks if methods, tools, or ideas will work, unlike the main study which collects full results.

research report (study)

a formal written study that presents the full results of research. it explains the question, methods, findings, and conclusions - unlike a preliminary study, which is just a small test run

PNAS 

proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

• a leading U.S. scientific journal that publishes important, peer-reviewed research in many fields 

parietal lobe helps to

organize spatial information [brains GPS signal] : spatial awareness, navigation, and body position

• on top of the brain. 

• processes sensory information (touch, temperature, pain, pressure) 

• integrates sensory sensory input to guide movement & perception 

occipital lobe

main function;vision processing. located at the back of the brain

• interests visual input (color, shape, movement)

• works with other lobes to recognize & make sense of what we see

hyposmia

lessen scent of smell.

• a medical condition by a partial loss of the sense of smell .

hypo

less of, doesn’t mean NONE

prosopagnosia

visual agnosia.

• a neurological condition by the inability to recognize faces.

negative affect

bad mood

agnosia 

lacking knowledge due to the loss of the ability to identify objects or people ; inability to interpret sensations & recognize things 

gnosis 

to know / knowing 

exteroception

ability to sense our external world. encompasses 5 senses: touch, sound , smell, sight , taste.

• brains processing of sensory input from the external world.

why is exteroception [our senses] important for humans

• survival & safety : detects threats , food, and environment 

• movement & navigation: guides coordination & balance 

• social & cognition : shapes communication, emotions, memory, and decision-making 

exteroception vs interoception - why are they important

they let the brain integrate outer + inner signals to guide behavior, decisions, and well-being.

interoception

senses internal body states (heartbeat , hunger, temperature, pain )

• supports homeostasis, emotions, and self-awareness

perceptual memory

allows recognition of sensory patterns (faces, voices, sounds) without relearning.

• relies on stored representations of stimuli. Example: knowing your friend’s voice immediately

perceptual learning

long term improvement in detecting or discriminating sensory info through practice/experience.

• Example: musicians distinguishing pitches; radiologist spotting tumors more accurately.

priming 

implicit memory effect where prior exposure to a stimulus helps makes later recognition / responses faster n more accurate.

• example : “yellow” - quicker recognition of “banana”  

basal ganglia

subcortical structures involved in movement control, habit/procedural learning, and reward processing.

• dysfunctions linked to - Parkinson's , Huntingtons, & OCD

orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

prefrontal area above the eyes; regulates reward/punishment evaluation, decision-making, and emotion.

• damage - impulsivity, poor social judgment.

neocortex 

outer layer of the cerebral cortex

• supports higher cognition [perception, reasoning, planning, language, memory integration]

• specialized regions process different sensory & motor functions. 

olfactory cortex

in the temporal lobe, mainly in the piriform cortex, near the amygdala & hippocampus. 

• functions: identifies / processes odors , links smells with memory & emotion [strong connections to limbic system - explains why smells trigger emotions & emotions] . 

• involved in reward & aversion learning [smells can drive behavior] 

proprioception 

sense and awareness of the position & movement of ur body

[ touching ur nose with ur eyes closed - you know where ur arm is in space] 

• ‘where is my body’

somatosensation

bodys sense of touch , pressure , pain , temperature, and vibration - information from the skin, muscles, and joints [feeling the heat of a stove]

• ‘what am I feeling on/in my body’

afferent 

incoming signals - information coming into the brain 

• in = sensory 

efferent

outgoing signals out to body, muscles, organs [ex. dancing]

• out = motor

peripheral organs

anything located outside the central nervous system [ brain and spinal cord]

• including sensory organs - eyes, ears, nose, skin, taste buds

• motor - bones, muscles

• heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver , kidneys , pancreas, spleen

somatic nervous system (SNS) a part of the peripheral nervous system

voluntary control of the body & relays sensory information - allowing conscious control over actions & reflexes. includes both sensory (afferent) and motor (efferent neurons)

automatic nerves system

involuntary control of body:independent of ur conscious control [beating heart adjusts on its own when walking or running]

parasympathetic afferents can do what

carry signals from organs [heart, hut] mainly through the vagus nerve to the brain stem (NTS)

• linked to rest & maintenance

sympathetic afferents can do what

carry sensory signals like pain, temp. , ( internal organs) and intense stress sent through the spinal pathway (CNS)

• linked to alert & stress responses 

methods 

who the subjects are, n (sample size), and what tests/statistics were used 

discussion

connects results to past research, gives interpretation, & suggests future studies

what is the basal ganglia and what does it do 

a group of deep brain structures involved in movement control, habit learning, and motivation. helps start & regulate voluntary movements, & filters out unwanted or extra movements 

damage to the basal ganglia

can lead to movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease (too little movement) or Huntington’s disease (too much movement

passive avoidance involves 

withholding a response to avoid punishment